Tag Archives: Death of a Mother

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, including slurs & cultural appropriation
  • Classism
  • Colourism
  • Misogyny & sexism
  • Islamophobia
  • Violent hate crime
  • Slavery, including child labour
  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide discussed
  • Self-harm
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Feet binding discussed
  • Plague
  • Death of mother
  • Grief depiction
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Genocide
  • Gun violence
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Colonization
  • War themes

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

When Ralph and Abby Lamb move in with Ralph’s mother, Laura, Abby hopes it’s just what she and her mother-in-law need to finally connect. But Laura isn’t interested in bonding with her daughter-in-law. She’s venomous and cruel, especially to Abby, and life with her is hellish. When Laura takes her own life, her ghost haunts Abby and Ralph in very different ways: Ralph is plunged into depression, and Abby is terrorized by a force intent on destroying everything she loves. To make matters worse, Mrs. Bondy’s daughter is threatening to move Mrs. Bondy from the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape discussed
  • Toxic relationships
  • Parental neglect
  • Emotional abuse
  • Borderline Personality Disorder
  • Hallucinations & delusions
  • Dissociation
  • Suicide
  • Self-harm
  • Miscarriage & pregnancy discussed
  • Cannibalism
  • Graphic grief & loss depiction
  • Death of mother
  • Murder

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.
Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Panic attack mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption with implications of alcohol abuse, on- & off-page
  • Pregnancy mentioned (prologue)
  • Graphic body horror
  • Detailed blood and injury depiction including eye trauma and an on-page arm amputation
  • Surgery and medical treatment, off-page
  • Hospitalisation, on-page
  • Needles, on-page
  • Grief and loss depiction (theme)
  • Death of a mother and father in a car accident, off-page
  • Death of a child from lockjaw mentioned
  • Death of a child and brother from drowning mentioned including a near-drowning incident recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault including assault with a hammer
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy (possession)
  • Animal attack (dog)
  • Animal dead bodies and taxidermy discussed (squirrels)

The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale

After a year at the king’s palace, Miri has learned all about being a proper princess. But the tables turn when the student must become the teacher! Instead of returning to her beloved Mount Eskel, Miri is ordered to journey to a distant swamp and start a princess academy for three sisters, cousins of the royal family. Unfortunately, Astrid, Felissa, and Sus are more interested in hunting and fishing than becoming princesses. As Miri spends more time with the sisters, she realizes the king and queen’s interest in them hides a long-buried secret. She must rely on… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Execution for thievery by soldiers
  • Death of a mother during childbirth mentioned
  • Animal attack (snake)

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean

He is the Killer Duke, accused of murdering Mara Lowe on the eve of her wedding. With no memory of that fateful night, Temple has reigned over the darkest of London’s corners for twelve years, wealthy and powerful, but beyond redemption. Until one night, Mara resurfaces, offering the one thing he’s dreamed of… absolution. Mara planned never to return to the world from which she’d run, but when her brother falls deep into debt at Temple’s exclusive casino, she has no choice but to offer Temple a trade that ends in her returning to society and proving to the world what only she knows… that he is no killer. It’s a fine… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Blood depiction
  • Gambling
  • Pregnancy mentioned (secondary character)
  • Murder of mother by a father from stabbing recounted

Love Scenes by Bridget Morrissey

Out-of-work actress Sloane Ford is in desperate need of something to do after losing her steady TV gig. When her famous family ropes her into working as a producer on their World War II-era romance, they neglect to mention that the film will be headlined by Joseph Donovan, her least favourite former co-star of all time. The roguish actor made her life a living hell the last time they worked together, using his movie star good looks and Irish charm to cover for his erratic professional behaviour. On their new film set, he promises he’s different now, but Sloane is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Toxic relationship recounted
  • Alcoholism recovery
  • Death of a mother recounted, off-page

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie

Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear. Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp for a summer of relaxation and redemption…only to find out that she and the endlessly aggravating Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But the competition might be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Emotional child abuse
  • Anxiety & anxiety attacks
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Physical injuries (minor sports injury)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother from breast cancer
  • Bullying

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old plantation in Louisiana, which they’ve transformed into one of the South’s few enslaved people’s museums. Together, while grieving the recent loss of Harriet’s mother, they run tours that help keep the memory of the past alive. Harriet’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of mother and daughter Claudia and Layla Hartwell—who plan to turn the property next door into a wedding venue, and host the offensively antebellum-themed wedding of two Hollywood stars. Harriet’s fully prepared to hate Layla Hartwell, but it… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism (theme)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother

Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons

Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons

Ash is descended from a long line of gladiators, and she knows the brutal nature of war firsthand. But after her mother dies in an arena, she vows to avenge her by overthrowing her fire god, whose temper has stripped her country of its resources. Madoc grew up fighting on the streets to pay his family’s taxes. But he hides a dangerous secret: he doesn’t have the earth god’s powers like his opponents. His elemental gift is something else—something that hasn’t been seen in centuries. When an attempted revenge plot goes dangerously wrong, Ash inadvertently throws the fire and earth gods into a conflict that can… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Child homelessness recounted
  • Indentured servitude mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother, on-page
  • Death of a son mentioned
  • Kidnapping
  • Physical assault
  • Attempted regicide
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Murder & attempted murder

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Parent in a coma
  • Chronic muscle disease mentioned
  • Death of a parent from suicide
  • Death of parents in a house fire (arson)
  • Death of a father from multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Death of a mother from childbirth
  • Death of a mother, father & sibling from drowning in a car accident
  • Death of an aunt from an ectopic pregnancy
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • Physical assault
  • Incarceration of a parent
  • Animal death